You’ll forget you’re in Provo, Utah, when you walk into Taste, which is simply and elegantly decorated in black, white and gold. Once you’re in the store, you’ll never want to leave. The highlight here is their chocolate and vinegar tastings. At these events, you will try seven of Taste’s eight chocolate bars, sourced from Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and Madagascar. If you think chocolate all tastes the same, then you’ll definitely think again after a visit to this shop.

In the lofty strata where Tessieri operates, “making chocolate” means that you make the chocolate. You import cacao beans from plantations. You roast them and husk them and grind the cacao nibs into a fine paste. You add sugar and grind some more. Finally you swirl the mixture in open tanks called conches, which smooths the texture while helping to blow off acids and other nasty flavors. It’s complicated, demanding work, and few small companies even attempt it.

Shuddering at the thought of using a mix? We don’t blame you. Like blue jeans and coffee beans, the options seem endless, and making the wrong choice invariably leads to disappointment. Some mixes result in dry or bland cakes, while others can pass pretty easily for homemade. With a team of cake-loving Taste of Home staffers, we compared five of the most popular cake mix brands in a blind taste test.
Susanna Yoon used to make the chocolates at Thomas Keller’s three-Michelin-starred Per Se, where each meal ends with a tableside buffet of bonbons. Yoon spun her craft into Stick With Me, a shop in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood. Inside a space roughly the size of one of Willy Wonka’s golden tickets, she sells two dozen different types of bonbons, eight different types of soft caramel candies, and a handful of packaged brittles, toffees, nougats, and marshmallows. Each dome-shaped bonbon is a study in flavor pairings: The sunshine-like burst of yuzu against the soft sweetness of a white chocolate shell; nutty black sesame alongside tart passionfruit; or the dual-layered mint chocolate chip, with a flavor that unravels as it melts. 202A Mott Street, New York, NY

This package of gourmet chocolate is perfect for those who like dark chocolate with a rich and intense flavor. The bonbons contain over seventy percent cacao for a very flavorful experience and everything is certified as fair trade and without any harmful additives. They’re also gluten-free for any dealing with restrictions. We like that each one is individually wrapped, making this product perfect for your next party or gathering. The price for one box of the bonbons is somewhat high for some consumers.

As Saint Valentine's Day rose in popularity, people began sending gifts of flowers, love letters, and other trinkets. Liquid chocolate drinks were understandably not convenient to mail to a sweetheart. In 1847, Joseph Fry invented chocolate you could eat by adding extracted cocoa butter back into the drinking cocoa powder, changing forever how we think of chocolate.

For $260, in late 2014, you could've gotten yourself a To’ak 2014 Rain Harvest 50s gram Chocolate Bar. It was Fair-Trade, USDA certified, 81% dark chocolate and came in a box made from Spanish Elm engraved with the specific bar number, as only 574 were made. There was also a 116 page booklet included, so you could read it and remind yourself why you spent $260 on a chocolate bar. The only ingredients, by the way, were cocoa and cane sugar.
Nothing says gourmet chocolate quite like a box of chocolates from Lindt, particularly anything from their luxury collection. Here you’ll get fourteen high-quality pieces of gourmet chocolate that include everything from milk to white chocolate and some choice pieces like stracciatella and hazelnuts as well. Tastes and textures vary widely as they tend to do with gourmet boxes, but there’s something in here for every chocolate enthusiast. While the price could be a bit more affordable, we still think this is some of the best gourmet chocolate available.
The Godiva website is organized by seasonal, truffles, gifts, business and more and is easy to navigate. Shoppers may further define their selection by price, type of chocolate, special value, collections and more detailed options to expedite their effort. For those specifically looking for a gift, a number of gift boxes and baskets exist that are organized by occasion. Godiva also allows the gift purchaser to select a ribbon to personalize the box or basket. While many of the selections are priced a little higher than other leading chocolate companies, you know with Godiva your gift is sure to leave an impression.